Potter

I am sitting in the Edmonton airport waiting for the start of what in my mind is my ‘trip of a lifetime’. Although not purely a research trip, more of an exploratory journey, I will be doing some genealogy research. I plan to stay close or in the communities that I know my family has resided, and I look forward to talking locals, exploring churches, cemeteries and breathing the Irish air. To pass the time I made a list of my Irish immigrant ancestors and where they were from.

Out of 12 people I have a known location in Ireland for 5, I only know the Counties for 2, which leaves me with 5 that have the empty designation of unknown.

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A quick update. I am not sure if it is because I blogged about it (just this week – The Elusive Potters of Goulbourn) but I seem to have made a breakthrough researching my Potter family.

I logged into my mother’s DNA at Ancestry today and using the search feature, typed in the name Potter. I quickly scanned for matches that had their trees unlocked, after clicking into one a name caught my eye. And no, it wasn’t Mary Potter, but Rachel Allen. I had traced Rachel Potter who was a witness to Mary Potter’s marriage in 1834 to George Mordy, and guessed she was the person who married Clark Allen. This was all conjecture and until I could prove it I had left alone.

Further looking through the tree that was posted I saw Margaret Potter. I clicked and low and behold Margaret was listed as living in Renfrew. Intrigued I clicked into the tree for more information.

And I have been lost ever since. I found Margaret Potter and Spencer Allen lived in Ross, Renfrew Co., and a wonderfully done Allen tree with pictures. They even had a William Potter who appears to have lived with his sister Margaret.

A Google search brought up this marriage record between Margaret & Spencer located on a Rootsweb message board –

“On the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and thirty three Spencer Allen of the Township of Ross in U. Canada, farmer and Margaret (Potter?) – looks like “Patten” of the Township of Huntley in U. Canada spinster were married together under the authority of a Special Licence from under the hand and seal of the Governor in Chief of (illegible) Canada by me A.H. Burwell Clerk.”Witnesses John Fraser and (illegible) Burnham.

Huntley!!! Another key piece of information.

The best part is they have Rachel Potter who married Clark Allen and later John Dennison. Oh and if that wasn’t quite enough – the Hon. Lorna Milne descends from Rachel Dennison. It just doesn’t stop.

Spencer Allen and Margaret Potter are buried in the Spencer Allen Cemetery in Cobden, Renfrew Co.

There are paper trails to follow-up with but a lot of things point to my now Not So Elusive Potters!

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March is Women’s History month and I am plan to spend the month focused on finding the family of Mary Potter.

Mary is my direct female ancestor and I know very little about her. The census records tell me she was born about 1805 in either Ireland or England. In 1834 at the Parish of March Mary walked down the aisle, John Potter gave her away and Rachel Potter served as her attendant. The Potter’s, according to the church records, were from Goulbourne.

Mary and her new husband George Mordy settled to life in Huntley, Carleton Co., Ontario where their six children Elizabeth, Rachel, Mary, Joseph, Thomas and Margaret were born. The family farmed on Concession 10 Lot 7, the farm stayed in the family until the death of son Joseph. Mary died at the age of 66 years in June 1871 and is buried in St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery in Almonte, Lanark Co. Her death, to my disappointment, was not registered.

Mary is my 3x great grandmother and what I have written here is the limited amount of information I know about the Potter family. The clues in the marriage register provided to me by the Ottawa Anglican Diocese of John & Rachel Potter being in attendance at Mary’s wedding has not given me the leads one would expect. In frustration, not once but twice I have hired researchers to uncover something about the family, both times we have come up empty-handed.

One clue is a Rachel Potter who married Allan Clark and later a John Dennison, but nothing that connects her back to Mary. If you have Potter’s in your tree drop me a line, maybe you can help me break down this brick wall.